Kail-joint



C. rHOHMAN. VVRAIL 10|NT. APPLICATION FILED JULY 22. 19I5.

l 9 9% r4 Y Patented Aug. 15,1916.

'narran spaans rattan :i ernten. i

CHARLES HGHMAN, QFCHCAGO, ILLINS.

RAIL-JOINT.

Application filed July 22, 1915.

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that l, CHAnLns HOHMAN, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of the city of Chicago, county of Cook, and State of illinois, have invented certain new and useful mprovements in Rail-Joints, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in rail-joints in railway rails, and has for its object the production of a joint of this character which will be adapted to prevent pounding in the passage of railway cars thereover when the adjacent ends of the rails are spaced apart, as by reason of contraction, and further a rail-joint which, at the same time, will be durable and adapted to withstand the tremendous strain to which the ends of a rail .are subjected, in use.

Other objects will appear hereinafter.

ylihe invention consists in the combinations and arrangements of parts hereinafter described and claimed.

rlhe invention will be best understood by reference to the accompanying drawing, forming a part of this specification, and in which- Figure l is a side elevation of the meeting end portions of two rails, the joint formed embodying my invention, Fig. 2 is a top plan view of Fig. l, and Fig. 3 is a perspective view of the end portion of one of the rails.

' rlhe preferred form of construction, illustrated in the drawing, comprises rails l 'and l which, in general construction are conventional. rllhe meeting ends of said rails are, however, cut vertically at a slight inclination to a transverse line so as to adapt said ends to register with each other as clearly shown in Fig. 2. rl`he preferred inclination of the surfaces 2 and 2', which has been determined upon through experiment, is thirty-three degrees to a transverse line as clearly shown in Fig. 2. Formed at the rearward ends of said surfaces at the base flanges of the rails are forwardly extending proj ections 3 and 3, the forward ends of said surfaces, at the base flanges of said rails, being cut away as at 4 and 4 to interlock with the projections 3 and 3 as clearly shown in the several views. The rail ends are secured together in the usual manner by fish plates 5 with which coperate bolts 6.

With the construction set forth it will be seen that in the event of the rails being spread, so as to leave a space between the Specification of Letters Patent,

Patented fing. f5, 1911.6.,

sei-iai no. 41,301.

surfaces 2 and 2', the ends of the rails, because of the inclination of said surfaces 2 and Q, will still overlap and thus prevent the pounding or jarring which otherwise is incident to the passage of railway cars thereover. l-lowover, in inclining the meeting surfaces of the rails, the forward end of the head or ball of the rail, which is first engaged by the car wheel, is weakened, and it has been found that if the inclination of the meeting surfaces of the rails is too great, the forward point of the head or ball becomes so weakened as not to enable it to stand up under the tremendous strain to which the same is subjected. Hence, with the inclination of said surface too great the forward tapering ends of the rail heads break down under the strain, become rounded, and thus result in pounding or jarring thereby defeating the very purpose of the inclination of the meeting surfaces of the rails. It has been found through experiment that by inclining the meeting surfaces of the rails at thirty-three degrees to a transverse line or fifty-seven degrees to a longitudinal line, the pointed forward ends of the heads of the rails remain sufficiently strong to withstand the wear upon the same, and at the same time result in a sufficient overlapping of the rail ends to allow for contraction of the rails without destroying the overlapping effect. Such an inclination has been adopted by applicant as shown in the drawings.

The provision of a forwardly extending projection at the rearward end of the base of each rail for interlocking. witln the forward end of the base of the other rail, produces an arrangement which will absolutely prevent the rail ends moving from alinement with each other or past each other in case of expansion.

While l have illustrated and described the preferred form of construction for carrying my invention into e'ect, this is capable of variation and modification without departing from the spirit of the invention. I, therefore, do not wish to be limited to the precise details of construction set forth, but desire to avail myself of such variations and modifications as come within the scope of the appended claims.

Having described my invention what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. ln a rail joint, the meeting ends of adjacent railway rails, said ends having registering vertical surfaces disposed obliquely at a comparatively slight incline to a transverse line; and a forwardly extending projection at the rearward end of said surface of each rail at the base flange only of the rail, the forward end portions of said surfaces at the base flanges of said rails registering with said projections, being formed to interlock with said projections7 substantially as described.

2. In a rail joint, the meeting ends of adjacent railway rails, said ends having` registering vertical surfaces disposed obliquely at a comparatively slight incline to a trans- 15 kverse line; and a forwardly extending projection at the rearward end of said surface of each rail at the base flange only of the rail, forming a substantially V-shaped recess, the forward end portions of said surfaces at the base flanges of said rails being formed to snugly engage in said recesses, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have signed my naine to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

CHARLES IIOHMAN.

lVitnesses:

JOSHUA R. I-I. Po'r'rs, Cona F. SCHIEBER.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for ve cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C. 

